Monthly Archives: January 2011

Here are some statistics comparing the VES and the Academy Award for Visual Effects winners. The purpose of delving into history and numbers is to perhaps aid in the predicting of the Oscar winners:

The VES consists of over 2,000 members who are also visual effects practitioners. They began awarding films in 2002. The number of films they nominate each year vary, but in recent years they have nominated 5.

2002-2004 – 3 nominees

2005 – 4 nominees

2006 – 3 nominees

2007-2009 – 5 nominees

The Academy has been awarding films for their special effects achievements since 1939. The Academy nominates 3 films every year for the Visual Effects award. However, for the 2010 year, they nominated 5.

VES & Oscar: Comparable Stats

VES winners match Oscar winners 75% of the time:

The VES and the Oscar have matched 6 out of the 8 years that the VES has been in existence. That is a 75% match rate for wins. Not too bad, but not that great either. Below is where VES and Oscar differ:

YearVESOscar

2007 Transformers The Golden Compass

2004 Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban Spider-Man 2

75% could be higher considering the low number of Special Effects films that are released each year, but then again only disagreeing on 2 out of 8 is pretty good. When the VES award winner is announced, we will have an even better idea on who the Oscar will go to this year.

VES nominees match Oscar nominees 71% of the time:

When VES nominates 3 films, they match the Oscar nominees only 58% of the time. We have to consider that Oscar nominated 5 films this year which has never happened. When VES nominates 5 films, they match the Oscar nominees 89% of the time when Oscar nominates 3. We should expect this rate to go down since Oscar nominated more.

VES & Oscar: For Your Consideration

Below are the VES and Oscar nominees. Tron Legacy and Hereafter are the only inconsistent films between the two. Both films have the lowest box office.

Not every awards organization gives out an award for best special effects, but so far this awards season there have been four to do so. The Las Vegas, Florida, St. Louis & Phoenix Film Critics organizations have all given Inception the award for Special Effects. Not even Avatar had such a common consensus among the precursors.

– Point: Inception due to precursor dominance

Box Office Thoughts

Special Effects are expensive, therefore in most cases, these films tend to have a bigger box office than others. This is not always the case, but on average the box office for Oscar Special Effects nominees are over $280M.

The Average VES Winner Box Office is $351M

The Average Oscar Winner Box Office is $335M

Highest Oscar Winner BO – Avatar ($750M)

Lowest Oscar Winner BO – The Golden Compass ($70M)

Box Office might not mean much when it comes to predicting the nominees, but if a film is in the Best Picture race and has a relatively low Box Office, like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ($127M), then it could still win both the VES and Oscar. Oscar has gone even lower when it gave the award to The Golden Compass ($70).

– Point: Alice In Wonderland due to high box office– Doc: Hereafter due to low box office

Genre Thoughts

There is a consistency between the genres of VES and Oscar winners:

Top 5 VES Winner Genres

1) Fantasy

2) Period Adventure

3) Fantasy Drama

4) Sci Fi Action

5) Sci-Fi Adventure

Top 5 Oscar Winner Genres

1)Fantasy

2) Period Adventure

3) Action Adventure vc

4) Fantasy Drama

5) Sci-Fi Adventure

Fantasy is the obvious one that sticks out being #1 on both lists. The only Fantasy film this year that is nominated for Oscar and VES is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Iron Man 2 is listed as Action Adventure, which is not unknown to Oscar. Both Inception and Tron: Legacy are listed as Sci-Fi Action, which is higher on the VES list than the Oscar list. In fact, Sci-Fi Action has never even been nominated for an Oscar, nor has it won for either an Oscar or VES. I think that will change this year with Inception.

– Point: Harry Potter: DH1 and Iron Man 2

PREDICTIONS:

Inception – Oscar snubbed Inception for Best Director and Film Editing. It has received nominations for Directors Guild, Writers Guild & Producers Guild. It is also nominated for Best Picture.

Iron Man 2 – This was not very well reviewed. It did very well at the box office but wasn’t one of those films you heard talk about very long afterwards. The first Iron Man was nominated for both VES and Oscar. It’s over saturated with special effects. It is Action Adventure, which is popular among Oscar nominations. It was released pretty early in the year.

Hereafter – The Academy REALLY loves Clint Eastwood. I saw all of the special effects from the film on the trailer. This is a joke. Low box office. Mediocre reviews. No chance.

AliceIn Wonderland– made the most money internationally in 2010. It has Johnny Depp in it. It is mostly special effects. I didn’t think it was that bad of a film either. It may not win because the voters could get confused thinking it’s an animated film.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1– the best film of the series. It has the third highest box office of the nominees and was an international success. It is a Fantasy, which is the absolute favorite of the Academy’s. Next year will be Harry’s year.

Final ConsensusVES Winner InceptionOscar Winner Inception

Since 2002, every Visual Effects Oscar winner also received a Best Sound Mixing Oscar nomination. Inception is the only Visual Effect nominee with a Sound Mixing nomination.

The last 9 times a Visual Effects nominee was also nominated for Best Picture, that film has won for Visual Effects every year!

Here’s a rundown of what we can expect (if anything) from the Academy Awards based on the nominations and winners of the SAG awards:

Actor – SAG & Oscar 75% Match Rate

The SAG and Oscar have matched the Best Actor winner for the last 6 years in a row. However, they didn’t match the 4 years prior.

When they don’t match, it’s either a close race (Day-Lewis for Gangs of New York vs. Adrien Brody for The Pianist) or a category issue, like Benicio del Toro who won the SAG lead and Oscar supporting for Traffic. Other than that, every SAG winner was nominated for an Oscar and every Oscar winner was nominated for a SAG. The Only anomaly being Benicio del Toro.

This year, SAG and Oscar nominees match 4 of 5. Whenever there is a 4 out of 5 nomination match, the SAG and Oscar winners match 63%. Based on these numbers, the SAG and Oscar winner should match.

I feel it safe to say that Colin Firth has it in the bag. James Franco and Jesse Eisenberg have won scattered precursors but Firth has been the consistent figure here.

SAG PREDICTION: Colin Firth

Oscar PREDICTION: Colin Firth

Actress – SAG & Oscar 63% Match Rate

The Actress categories are a little more sporadic. There is a category issue regarding Kate Winslet in 2008. Winslett won both the Supporting SAG and Lead Oscar for The Reader. She was also nominated for Supporting SAG for Revolutionary Road in that same year and received no Oscar nomination. Other than that, every SAG winner was nominated for an Oscar and every Oscar winner was nominated for a SAG. However, the Actress nominee consistency is 91%. That is 91% of the SAG Actress nominees have matched the Oscar Actress nominees. This is very high especially for a 63% win rate. They agree on who the top 5 are, but no necessarily the winner.

This year, SAG and Oscar nominees match 4 for 5. Whenever there is a 4 out of 5 nomination match, the SAG and Oscar winners match 57%. This could go either way but I would say, based on these numbers, the SAG and Oscar winner should match.

It’s seems that it’s down to Natalie Portman and Annette Benning. Portman has won the vast majority of the precursors, but you never what might happen win it comes to the SAG and Best Actress. Also, I wouldn’t count out Jennifer Lawrence.

SAG PREDICTION: Natalie Portman

Oscar PREDICTION: Natalie Portman

Supporting Actor – SAG & Oscar 56% Match Rate

The SAG and Oscar have matched the Best Supporting Actor winner for the last 3 years in a row. Aside from the del Toro irregularity, all of the non-matching winners were nominated for the SAG or Oscar.

This year, SAG and Oscar nominees match 5 for 5. Whenever there is a 5 out of 5 nomination match, the SAG and Oscar winners match 100%. (Martin Landau for Ed Wood and Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds). Based on these numbers, the SAG and Oscar winner should match.

I don’t see anyone other than Christian Bale winning this one. He has completely dominated the precursor awards winning 24 of the 32 (78%). The stats show that SAG and Oscar couldn’t go different directions, but this year seems like a sure thing, although Geoffrey Rush was brilliant.

SAG PREDICTION: Christian Bale

Oscar PREDICTION: Christian Bale

Supporting Actress – SAG & Oscar 56% Match Rate

A couple of things stand out. The first is the Kate Winslet 2008 issue mentioned above. The second is that in 2001, Jennifer Connely won the Supporting Oscar and was nominated for a Lead SAG. Also, Marcia Gay Harden won the Supporting Oscar in 2000 for Pollock, but didn’t even receive a nomination for SAG. There is virtually no consistency with Supporting Actress. SAG and Oscar can’t even seem to get which category they want to nominate a supporting actress for. Other than that, ever non-matched SAG winner was nominated for an Oscar and Oscar winner was nominated for a SAG.

This year, SAG and Oscar nominees match 4 for 5. Whenever there is a 4 out of 5 nomination match, the SAG and Oscar winners match 67%.

Melissa Leo is the clear favorite here especially after she took home the Golden Globe. She has won most of the precursor awards, though Hailee Steinfeld is very close behind her in that race. I don’t see Steinfeld winning the Oscar so the SAG could award her. Also, you can’t count out Amy Adams. I can see the SAG and Oscar splitting on this decision.

SAG PREDICTION: Hailee Steinfeld

Oscar PREDICTION: Meliisa Leo

Ensemble – SAG & Oscar 47% Match Rate

There’s not much of a trend here. It’s a very low match rate and SAG and Oscar have never matched more than 2 years in a row. In 1996, The Birdcage won SAG Ensemble and wasn’t nominated for Best Picture Oscar. In 1995, Braveheart won Best Picture Oscar and wasn’t nominated for SAG ensemble. Since then, all of the non-matching SAG Ensemble and Oscar Best Picture winners were nominated for the other.

Concerning nomination counts; of the 15 years of the SAG Ensemble award:

– 6 winners had the most nominations, 3 won Best Picture

– 4 winners had the least nominations, 2 won Best Picture

– 5 winners were in the middle of the pack, 2 won Best Picture

No Trend. Dead-end trail.

This year, SAG and Oscar nominees match 5 for 5. Whenever there is a 5 out of 5 nomination match, the SAG and Oscar winners match 0%. It has happened twice before (2004-Sideways/Million Dollar Baby & 2001-Gosford Park & A Beautiful Mind) and neither SAG winner won the Oscar for Best Picture. Based on these numbers it could be said that the SAG ensemble will not match the Oscar Best Picture this year.

The Directors Guild of America awards are this Saturday, January 29, 2011. For 60 years the DGA has awarded films for their directorial achievement. The DGA is BY FAR the most telling precursor awards there are. By this we can accurately predict the Best Director Oscar and Best Picture. Every year, the DGA, Best Director and Best Picture nominate 5 films. Below are the 2011 nominees for DGA, Director and Picture:

Directors Guild

David Fincher The Social Network

Tom Hooper The King’s Speech

Darren Aronofsky Black Swan

David O. Russell The Fighter

Christopher Nolan Inception

Best Director & Best Picture Oscar

David Fincher The Social Network

Tom Hooper The King’s Speech

Darren Aronofsky Black Swan

David O. Russell The Fighter

Joel & Ethan Coen True Grit

Here’s what you need to know:

Almost always, 4 of these 5 films are also chosen for Best Director and Best Picture. On average, 1 film gets replaced every year. This was the case this year as well. Oscar chose for Director and Picture 4 of the 5 from the DGA. Unfortunately, this is the 2nd time in 3 years that the Academy has snubbed Christopher Nolan (2008 for The Dark Knight).

I predicted that Oscar would bring in the Coens because the public is suddenly infatuated with them ever since No Country For Old Men. However, I fully expected David O. Russell to fall, not Nolan. The only thing missing from the coups is Stephen Daldry.

Win Statistics

AwardsMatch %

DGA & Best Director 90%

DGA & Best Picture 80%

Best Picture & Best Director 82%

All 3 Same Winner 77%

All 3 Different 2%

1) 90% of DGA winners also win Best Director (54 yrs)

– only 6 times in 60 years has the DGA and Best Director not matched. However, in the last 10 years, it has happened twice:

YearDGABest Director

2002 Chicago The Pianist

2000 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Traffic

– this is a solid statistic. I wouldn’t bet that the DGA and Best Director would split especially since it’s happened twice in the last 10 years.

2) 80% of DGA winners also win Best Picture (48 yrs)

– Twice out of every 10 years the DGA and Best Picture split. In the last 10 years, they have indeed split twice:

YearDGABest Picture

2005 Brokeback Mountain Crash

2000 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Gladiator

– It could be argued that we are due for a split. There was another split in 1995 and 1989, 5 years and 6 years separation.

– Note that both DGA winners above were directed by Ang Lee.

3) 82% of Best Director winners also win Best Picture (49 yrs)

– However, the odds have been defied and a split has happened 4 times in the last 12 years:

YearBest DirectorBest Picture

2005 Brokeback Mountain Crash

2002 The Pianist Chicago

2000 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Gladiator

1998 Saving Private Ryan Shakespeare In Love

– In the last 12 years, this stat is only 67%. Based on this, I would say that the Best Director and Best Picture would be the same.

– However, if I am detecting a trend, then it could be said that we are overdue for a split since roughly every 2-3 years from those above there has been one.

4) 77% of the time all three awards match exactly (46 yrs)

– this is another strong statistic because there are 3 different awards that need to line up.

5) Only once have the DGA, Best Director & Best Picture not matched

– you might have noticed the year 2000 being the common year between the 3 points above. In 2000, there was a freak anomaly. The 3 awards were all different:

YearDGADirectorPicture

2000 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Traffic Gladiator

– I don’t know that I would ever predict this to happen again. Too many different things need to be happening. I especially wouldn’t apply it to this year.

6) Only 4 times as the DGA been alone in its winner (9%)

– that’s once every 15 years and in the last 15 years it’s happened twice:

YearDGADirectorPicture

2000 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Traffic Gladiator

1995 Apollo 13 Braveheart Braveheart

– I don’t see this happening again for a while. Especially since the Academy would have to split it’s 2 awards and agree with a different body of people for Best Director. It’s more probable that the Academy stays uniform.

Prediction

It all hinges on the DGA. As I said above, it would be stupid to go against these statistics. Any given year if you predict the same winner for DGA, Best Director and Best Picture, then you are bound to be right.

I really think that David Fincher will win the DGA for The Social Network. If he wins then there’s a 90% chance that he will win the Best Director so I will go with Fincher for Best Director as well. Tom Hooper, director of The King’s Speech, is a newcomer and still pretty young (38), so I don’t really see him winning the DGA.

However, as of right now I have sensed a surge in buzz for The King’s Speech. It has 12 total nominations and it seems that the Academy favors it slightly above The Social Network, which got 8. Based on points #2 & #3 from above there could feasibly be a split this year according to past statistics. I am not trying to shoe-horn this in either. We are set up for a possible split with the 2 big frontrunners: The Social Network and The King’s Speech. The Academy has been known to award great work with the Best Director Oscar and then award their favorite, for Best Picture.

DGA Winner: The Social Network

Best Director: The Social Network

Best Picture: The King’s Speech

We Will know more on Saturday, when the DGA announces it’s winner.

This is a bold move that I am sure to regret come Oscar night, which is why I will probably change it at the last minute. Therefore, when I do change it, it will be to the prediction below:

DGA Winner: The Social Network

Best Director: The Social Network

Best Picture: The Social Network

More Statistics:

1) 90% of DGA winners also win Best Director (54 yrs) – 6 times no match

Well the obvious blemish is the Inception snubs, that is Christopher Nolan for Director and Lee Smith for Film Editing. These were shoe-ins, but for some reason, the Academy didn’t think Inception worthy of such nominations. This is detrimental for Inception in the Best Picture race as no film has EVER won Best Picture without both a Film Editing and Director nomination. Even Driving Miss Daisy in 1989 won Best Picture without a Director nomination, but it was nominated for Film Editing. So that’s over and it’s a sad thing. Inception was easily one of the top 5 films of the year, if not the best. The Academy doesn’t see things as we do. They make a hobby out of snubbing Christopher Nolan. Until Nolan makes a talkie, something more up their alley, it seems he may not get the acclaim he deserves. I hope he doesn’t take it personally. I hope he keeps doing his thing, because I love it.

The Surprises:

Inception snubs for Director and Film Editing. Javier Bardem getting an Acting nomination for his performance in Biutiful, but this is no real shocker. David O. Russell held his Director spot. I thought the Coens would get in over O. Russell, never Nolan! Also, Hereafter for Visual Effects. Please.

The Locks:

Firth, Portman and Bale are pretty much locked for Actor, Actress and Supporting Actor. Aaron Sorkin for Adapted Screenplay. Toy Story 3 for Animation will win (though I detect a non-Pixar movement brewing).

The Not-So-Locked:

The real race is in Supporting Actress. Some say it’s between Melissa Leo and Hailie Steinfeld. Leo’s been here before for Frozen River. She’s a veteran. However, we haven’t seen a performace like Steinfeld’s in True Grit for a long time. The thing is, she just turned 14. This shouldn’t mean anything, but if history tells us anything the chances are not good for a win for Hailie. Amy Adams might be the dark horse here. Her performance in The Fighter along side Leo was much more subdued and subtle. The Supporting Actress race far more wide open than the others.

The Academy never ceases to amaze with its inconsistent nomination procedures. For years, they have only nominated 3 films for visual effects. This year they nominated 5. Not that that’s a bad thing, but it just exposes the lack of structure. In years past, The Academy has found a way to show their love for Clint Eastwood. This year is no different as they give Hereafter a Visual Effects nomination. Inception should walk away with this one.

Sound Editing and Mixing are as arbitrary as ever. The only common film between the two categories is Inception and I feel that it will win both here to make up for its awful snub. Although, look for the eventual Best Picture winner to snag an Editing/Mixing win (The Social Network, The King’s Speech).

Makeup is always an odd choice. I’m no makeup expert, but every year The Academy leaves off the more obvious films like, Black Swan and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Anything goes with this category, but does anyone care about movies they probably haven’t seen?

Costume Design goes right up there with makeup. No Black Swan. Although, look for the eventual Best Picture winner to snag the Costume win (The King’s Speech)

Cinematography could go to anyone. Deakins has been snubbed in the past. They could give it to him for that reason (as I don’t believe this is his best work). Libatique for Black Swan deserves it in my book, but one can never count out the Best Picture frontrunners, The Social Network and The King’s Speech; The King’s Speech having the edge here. Pfister’s work on Inception is some of the best of the year, but I don’t see the Academy awarding it to the same film they snubbed earlier just to make amends. This is wide open.

Original Score will go to the either The Social Network or The King’s Speech, both of which are the Best Picture frontrunners at the moment.

I think Fincher takes home the Director Oscar, but I’m not as sold on The Social Network’s Best Picture chances. 85% of the time a film wins Best Direct it also wins Best Picture. Only 7 times (15%) has a Best Picture winner not won Best Director, the most recent being Brokeback Mountain in 2005. That’s about once every 6 or 7 years. We could be due for another!

The 2011 Producers Guild Awards are Saturday, January 22, 2011. The Producers Guild of America awards films with the finest producing work of the year. They have over 4,000 members. The PGA began awarding films in 1990. The PGA tends to nominate the same number of films as Oscar. I will use PGA and Oscar statistics to predict the PGA winner and the Oscar nominees.

PREDICTING THE OSCAR NOMINEES

1) PGA winners match Oscar winners 71% of the time:

PGA Win Statistics

PGA & Oscar Match 15 71%

Don’t Match 6 29%

TOTAL Years 21

The PGA and the Academy have matched 15 out of the 21 years that the PGA has been in existence. That is a 71% match rate for wins. That’s really not that great, but it can still tell us a lot. For the last 3 years, the PGA and Oscar winners have matched exactly, but the 3 years before that, they did not match. Below is where the PGA and Oscars deviate:

PGA Best PictureOscar Best Picture

2006 Little Miss Sunshine The Departed

2005 Brokeback Mountain Crash

2004 The Aviator Million Dollar Baby

2001 Moulin Rouge! A Beautiful Mind

1995 Apollo 13 Braveheart*

1992 The Crying Game Unforgiven

*Also, note that in 1995 Braveheart won the Oscar for Best Picture, but was not even nominated for PGA. This is the only time that has ever happened and as long as there are 10 nominees each year, I don’t see this ever happening again.

2) PGA nominees match Oscar nominees 78% of the time:

PGA Nom Statistics

PGA & Oscar Match 67 79%

Don’t Match 18 21%

TOTAL Years 18

This is actually a pretty good match rate. The last 5 years that both the PGA and Oscar nominated 5 films, the nominees matched 4/5 each year. Last year, when both nominated 10 films, they matched 8/10 (Oscar replaced Star Trek and Invictus with A Serious Man & The Blind Side). This averages to right at 80%.

3) Precursors Thoughts

The Social Network has been completely dominating the precursor awards. The only other films that have won a precursor best picture award are Winter’s Bone, Inception & The King’s Speech. The Social Network has won all 26 other best pictures out right and has tied for two other ones with Black Swan and 127 Hours.

OSCAR NOMINEE PREDICTIONS

Based on the 80% rule that the PGA and Oscar seem to follow year after year, I will assume that 2 of the 10 PGA nominees will be replaced by Oscar. Right now there are 3 films that are in danger. The problem is, I have no idea the other movies that could replace them and be nominated for the Oscar Best Picture. Below are my first out-first in thoughts.

First Out – First In

1) The Town 1) Winter’s Bone

2) 127 Hours 2) ?????

3) The Kids Are All Right 3) ?????

I think that Oscar will deviate from their tradition of nominating 80% of the PGA nominees. Oscar will nominate the all of the films on the PGA nominee list except for The Town. It will be replaced by Winter’s Bone. As far as the Best Picture winner… 3 years in a row PGA and Oscar didn’t match. The last 3 years they did match. Can they make it 4 in a row? I think so. I think it’s dumb to bet against The Social Network at this point, especially if it wins the PGA.

PREDICTING THE PGA WINNER

1) Box Office Thoughts

Avg BO PGA Winner – $158M

Highest BO PGA Winner – $600M – Titanic

Lowest BO PGA Winner – $17M – The Hurt Locker

Avg ROI PGA Winner – 416%

Highest ROI PGA Winner – 1600% – The Crying Game

Lowest ROI PGA Winner – (7%) – The Aviator

Here is a list of the 2011 PGA nominees with their Box Office information. The average Box Office for a PGA winner is right at $150M.

Film

Box Office

Budget

Profit

ROI

Black Swan

$ 76,628,084

$ 13,000,000

$ 63,628,084

489%

The Kids Are All Right

$ 20,811,365

$ 4,000,000

$ 16,811,365

420%

True Grit

$ 129,904,663

$ 38,000,000

$ 91,904,663

242%

The King’s Speech

$ 48,597,317

$ 15,000,000

$ 33,597,317

224%

The Fighter

$ 68,046,030

$ 25,000,000

$ 43,046,030

172%

The Town

$ 92,186,262

$ 37,000,000

$ 55,186,262

149%

The Social Network

$ 94,922,241

$ 40,000,000

$ 54,922,241

137%

Toy Story

$ 415,004,880

$ 200,000,000

$ 215,004,880

108%

Inception

$ 292,576,195

$ 160,000,000

$ 132,576,195

83%

127 Hours

$ 11,159,720

$ 18,000,000

$ (6,840,280)

(-38)

Based on the statistics above, 127 Hours is out. It’s ROI is way too low. This is unfortunate because it’s a great film, but was released horribly. Danny Boyle won the PGA in 2008 with Slumdog Millionaire and had a very good chance to do the same with 127 Hours. Judging by this, one might think that Black Swan and The Kids Are All Right are clear favorites with a +400% ROI.

OUT: 127 Hours

2) Genre Thoughts

Below is a top 5 list of PGA and Oscar wins by Genre. Genre may not mean anything at all when it comes to the PGA’s. The genres that PGA awards look pretty diverse, but it’s clear to see that the Oscars favor dramas.

PGAOscars

Drama 2 Drama 3

Musical 2 Crime Drama 2

Romance 2 Historical Epic 2

Western 2 Romance 2

Action/Thriller 1 Comedy/Drama 1

Below is a list of the 2011 PGA nominees and their genres. 6 of the 10 films are categorized as some type of drama. True Grit is listed as a Western, which is another multiple PGA winning genre. I wouldn’t count out The Kids Are All Right, though. The PGA has awarded different comedies in the past like Little Miss Sunshine, Shakespeare In Love & Forrest Gump. The PGA has never awarded a Sci-Fi Action or Animation, though. Perhaps this means that films that cost too much are not as likely to win (except for Titanic).

2011 PGA Nominees

Genre

The Town

Crime Drama

Black Swan

Drama/Thriller

The King’s Speech

Historical Drama

The Fighter

Sports Drama

The Social Network

Comedy/Drama

True Grit

Western

The Kids Are All Right

Comedy

Inception

Sci-Fi Action

Toy Story 3

Animation

127 Hours

Drama

OUT: Inception, Toy Story 3, 127 Hours

2011 PGA Winner Prediction:

These statistics don’t really say a lot as far as predicting the PGA winner. Gun to my head, anything crossed off the list above is out for reasons specified earlier.

The Town– was released too early. Good reviews but not enough buzz.

The Kids Are All Right – was released too early. Good reviews and buzz. Great Box Office

The Fighter– hasn’t gotten quite as much buzz as the others.

True Grit – an okay film. great box office.

The King’s Speech – was released perfectly. A great film, but the buzz has died down

Black Swan – was awesome at the box office, which is just what you want from a film

The Social Network – has won everything. good box office. great buzz. DVD release this month.

2011 PGA Winner Prediction: The Social Network

Note: as soon as the Oscar Nominations and Guild Awards come out, I will revise my predictions.

Here are my 2011 Golden Globe Predictions. These awards don’t necessarily mean a whole lot in comparison to the Guilds and other precursor awards. The Golden Globes seem a bit silly at times as you can plainly see by the multiple nominations for Johnny Depp and Burlesque. Nevertheless, it’s very interesting to see just where these films stand at this point in the race. The King’s Speech could up its stock with a win and make it a tight Oscar Best Picture race between The King’s Speech, Inception and front-runner, The Social Network. There are some locks as well like Christian Bale, Aaron Sorkin & Natalie Portman. A win for these three all but officially locks an Oscar win in late February.

Last Saturday, January 8th at the Belcourt theatre, Nicole Kidman attended a very special screening of her new film, Rabbit Hole, of which she both is the producer and star of the film.Following the screening, she gave a very engaging question and answer session…and I was there!Not only was I there, but I got to ask her a question!!!

My wife and I sat on the third row of the theatre and on the brand-spankin’ new chairs that the Belcourt has pretty recently installed.(They’ll always feel knew for those of us that remember those old seats!)The closeness to the screen for the duration of the hour-and-a-half film was more than a fair trade-off for being just fifteen feet from Mrs. Kidman for the twenty minute Q&A.

Ever since I knew that Nicole Kidman had moved to the Nashville area, I knew that there was a slight possibility of running into her in a coffee shop in Franklin or at a restaurant in Green Hills.These past few years I have had ready my one solitary, go-to question that I would ask her whenever that splendid opportunity occurred.Last Saturday, I got my shot.

My Question: “What was it like working with Stanley Kubrick?”

It didn’t take my question to bring up the name, “Kubrick”, in the Q&A.Kidman, herself brought him up almost right away when speaking on her role as a producer of Rabbit Hole, a low budget film, and the struggles that go with it like cutting costs and making location and off-set sacrifices in order to stay below budget.Nicole compared this to Kubrick’s ability to always stay under budget.It wasn’t beyond him to make those sacrifices for the sake of the film.Stanley Kubrick was one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.His last (complete) film was Eyes Wide Shut.Nicole Kidman’s role in this film is hauntingly sensual.It’s hard to describe the vibe that she projects through the screen, but her performance is powerful, yet subtle and under control.Darkly angelic would be a good way to describe it.I didn’t feel like I was really breaking topic (which was a bit of a concern of mine) by asking my question when it was my turn.What I found very exciting was her engaging and thoughtful response.

“What was it like working with Stanley Kubrick?”

Nicole gave an answer that spanned from a minute-and-a-half to two minutes.She said working with Stanley Kubrick changed her life.He ignited a pursuit of excellence in her.At a point in time when she was a bit ashamed of being an actress, he challenged her, opened her up and stretched her as an actress.Beforehand, if I were to guess I would probably have said that her experience with Kubrick was nightmarish.He was a great director but was rather difficult to work with.My expectation couldn’t be further from the reaction that I got from Nicole Kidman.She said that Kubrick kept an office just off of the set and that he would let her and only her in his office all by herself, going through his books and just hanging out.Nicole got special treatment.But who wouldn’t cave in to the delightfulness of Mrs. Kidman?Nicole’s appreciation for Kubrick remains adamant even today as she reminisces back to the days of working with him on set.It seems the ambition and desire that imbues within her to this day can at least be partially accredited to the late and great Stanley Kubrick. It is very odd indeed that her experience with Kubrick was such a positive one.After all, he has been called the “actor’s enemy” by Robert Duvall at a recent actors roundtable.It’s been said that he was extremely demanding and first-hand accounts from the likes of Matthew Modine and Michael Herr can attribute to that.Whatever the case, our friend Nicole Kidman seemed to have found his soft spot.

Rabbit Hole begins its run at the Belcourt Friday, January 14 and is based on the very recent Broadway play.Her performance in this film is BY FAR one of the best performances of her career.In fact, the performances of the entire ensemble as a whole and individually were some of the best of the year.Aaron Eckhart and Miles Teller give fantastic performances as does the great Dianne Wiest.Rabbit whole is one of the top movies of 2010 and you absolutely must see this film.